There have been developed a variety of nanomaterials, such as nanotubes, which may be beneficial for use in a variety of applications, such as electrical systems and networks. Carbon and other materials are formed into nanotubes, but there is a need to develop methodologies and systems to effectively utilize such materials. For example, modifications of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) can play an important role in exploring their chemical and physical properties, and using and enhancing such properties for different applications. To date, SWNTs have been successfully functionalized with covalent and non-covalent surface modifications employing 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, photoinduced addition, π-π interaction, to mention but a few. Also, metallo-polycarboxylate coordination has been commonly used for the construction of zeolitic, cage, and paddle-wheel architectures via the use of transition, main-group, and rare earth metals as well as a number of hybrid metal structures. Oxidized single-wall carbon nanotubes (Oxi-SWNT), possessing carboxylic acids on the open-ends and sidewall, have been modified by introducing various organic functional groups, including DNA. Also, new strategies for introducing immobilized metals and their complexes onto, as well as into, carbon nanotubes have been reported.
As a result of the thermal stability, robust chemical properties, and electron and energy transfer characteristics, metal-based complexes of bis(2,2′:6′2″-terpyridine) (tpy-M-tpy, where tpy=terpyridine and M=metal) have been widely investigated in a host of applications. Recently, it was reported that the assembly of terpyridine-copper-carboxylate complexes possessing a pentacoordinate geometry, in which this CuII complexation involves three metal-N bonds and two cis-oriented sites (carboxylate ions). The available cis-oriented sites allow for the substitution of the aryl polycarboxylic acids with various agents; in this case, Oxi-SWNTs were introduced. These terpyridine-metal-carboxylate complexes are vulnerable to degradation under basic conditions or in the presence of competitive reagents. It has also been shown that the combination of SWNTs with photoactive electron donors, such as porphyrins or bipyridine ruthenium complexes, has been developed for potential applications in solar energy conversion utilizing the electron-acceptor character of the SWNTs.
It would be advantageous to provide a method of self-assembly of single-wall carbon nanotubes wherein the self-assembly process occurs by at least one metal mediated moiety, to provide the ability to create self-assembled nano-structures and also enhance the functionality or characteristics of the nanotube materials. It would also be advantageous to provide a method of self-assembly of nanotubes wherein the methodology can be used to create different structural morphologies, and can undergo quantitative disassembly by treatment with a competing ligand compound.